Problematizing communication: Revisiting (and resisting) the basic speech communication course

Abstract

While most basic course textbooks offer useful skills designed to help students gain a sense of control, many fail to problematize communication. With a focus on the hybrid basic course textbook, this essay highlights some symptoms associated with this failure and discusses the potential negative impact on students’ learning. Foundations for an alternative approach in which the textbook is viewed as a multi‐leveled discourse is outlined, one which seeks to encourage other readings. It is argued that the conceptual understanding of students can be improved when subservience to psychological tenets in the basic course textbook is resisted.